Fallout: Commonwealth's Rebirth
by Pinoy Gamer
Summary: No one was killed by Kellog when the Institute raided Vault 111 but only knocked out. Now, after getting out of the damn pods, Nate and Nora Adams swore vengeance to whoever kidnapped their son...problem is, they have to create a home base first AND survive the harsh Commonwealth Wasteland all the while looking for Shaun. Well...it was better than being stuck in a pod. [On Ice]
1. Out of Time

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE FALLOUT GAMES

 **From the Imaginative Mind of Pinoy Gamer**

 **In collaboration with [Enter Text Here] Productions**

 **Presents...**

 **The Commonwealth's Rebrith**

 **SUMMARY:** The one holding Shaun wasn't killed by Kellog when the Institute raided Vault 111 but was rather knocked out by him. Now, after getting out of the damn cryogenic pods, Nate and Nora Adams swore vengeance to whoever kidnapped their son...problem is, they have to create a home base first, recruit people to join a militia they suddenly became leaders too, fight mutated creatures and all manifestations of men's evil, and survive the harsh Commonwealth Wasteland all the while looking for Shaun. Well...it was better than being stuck in a pod.

* * *

Chapter 1: Out of Time

[October 23, 2287]

Nate Adams gave a gasp as he fell to the floor, coughing. Leaning against the closed door of the pod, Nate tried to clear his mind and remember where the fuck he was. Looking in front of him, Nate tried seeing who was in it, squinting his eyes to do so. _Strange, she looks familiar…_ Nate thought before his eyes widened with realization. _Nora!_

Spring into action as if he was ambushed, Nate pounded on the door while looking for some sort of release button. Spotting one beside the pod, he punched it and wailing sounds started blaring. Hissing followed shortly afterwards as the pod slowly opened, letting its female occupant fall down on the floor much like how Nate did when he exited.

"Nora! Nora, can you hear me?" Nate asked hurriedly to the woman, who began coughing as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Yeah…yeah, I can." Nora Adams slowly answered, nodding slowly before getting caught in Nate's bear hug. "Can't…breathe…Nate!"

Realizing what he was doing, Nate immediately let go and gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry about that, Honey." he apologized awkwardly, giving her some space. "I'm just glad you're safe…where ever we are."

Nora meekly nodded. "Yeah," she answered absently before rubbing her temple. "God, my head hurts! Wonder where Shaun…" she trailed off when she remembered something.

 **# # # # # # # # # # FLASHBACK # # # # # # # # # #**

 _Nora started coughing as the pod opened, still gently holding her son. Her eyesight hazy, she saw a silhouette of two people in front of her, a voice in front of her ordering her to give him (the person had a masculine voice) Shaun._

 _"N_ _o, wait. I…I got him." she answered_ _, still clutching her baby._

 _"_ _Let the baby go. I'm only going to tell you once!" an angry, gruff voice said_ _on her right._

 _"_ _I'm not giving you Shaun!" she answered_ _ferociously._

 _Suddenly, she felt something hard her head, making her lose consciousness. "Have a nice sleep…if you ever wake up." The gruff voice said before everything fade_ _d to black._

 **# # # # # # # # # # FLASHBACK # # # # # # # # # #**

"Shaun!" Nora suddenly screamed, looking around for her son. Nate seemed confused for a moment before suddenly realizing what she was screaming about. "Nate-Shaun's been—"

"—kidnapped, I know." Nate answered tensely, surprising Nora. "I saw the whole thing from my pod. The bastard told me something before I…was frozen, I guess. Said something about being a backup or the like."

Nora stared at him before slowly answering. "You…you saw the kidnapper?"

"Kidnappers," Nate corrected before standing up. "But first things first: let's get out of here."

"You're…you're right," Nora agreed after a few seconds, her motherly instincts calming down once she noticed where she was. They were in a long corridor filled with pods similar to where they got out from, straight out of some weird sci-fi horror show. Accepting Nate's hand, she stood up and dusted her legs. "Where to, sergeant?"

Nate just shook his head at her remark. "I should ask you, _captain_." he answered sarcastically while grinning.

Nora just lightly shoved him. "Come on, let's get out of here," she told him, looking around the room with suspicion. "This place gives me creeps."

"Shouldn't we try and free the others first?" Nate asked, pointing to the other pods beside theirs. His wife's answer was going to a RobCo terminal near the door and started typing. Suddenly, she stopped and gasped. "What's wrong, Honey?"

"They're…they're…they're all dead!" Nora exclaimed as Nate hurried to the terminal. "A…according to this, everyone's life support except ours was turned off."

"My God…" was all Nate could say before something caught his eye. "Nora…look…look at this."

Her eyes followed to the bottom of the screen, reading 'Number of days since Pod/s were opened: 21,900 Days'. Nora gave a gasp, covering her mouth, when she suddenly realized how many years that was. "Nate…please…please tell me this is a joke." she asked him, her wavering voice filled with fear, holding on to him. "This…this has to be a god damn joke!"

Nate was just silent, having realized the implications of the numbers. "When I get my hands on that son of a bitch…"

"Get in line!" Nora growled angrily, her body shaking with anger and despair. _60 years,_ Nora thought as she glared at the terminal. _60 years has been taken from to experience my baby boy's growth!_

"Let's…let's get…let's get out of here." Nora finally stated, trying to fight back tears. Suddenly, Nate just hugged her and she finally broke down, the two of them crying for what seemed like an eternity before finally stopping.

"Nora, we're going to find that bastard who did this to us." he stated staring right into her eyes. "And we're going him hell."

Nora nodded but added "But first, we go to find where he sent Shaun _then_ we give him hell. I don't care if it's a grave or an old man who doesn't know us – I just want to see what happened to him. Alright?"

Nate gave a grin then gave a passionate kiss. "Fine," Nate said after they broke off. "Now, let's go!"

Opening the door, the two saw an empty tunnel filled with pipes on the sides and another sliding door at the end of it, with a tool box and what looked like a hammer at the floor. As they walked towards it, Nate asked "When did you get so good with computers?"

Nora, still slightly shocked about the fact that their son was roughly 60 years old, was confused about his question. "Why'd you asked?"

Nate just shrugged. "Brother Benji taught me one thing back during the Reclamation: Never dwell on things you can't change." he answered, referring to Gunny Sergeant Benjamin Montgomery. Nora smiled at how Nate referred to his CO as the two were always inseparable (Benjamin would later become Nate's best man in their sudden wedding). "'Focus on the present,' he would tell us, 'because through that, we can change the future.'"

Nora chuckled. "I remember that," she replied just as they reached the door. "He told us that at our impromptu wedding, right?"

"Yup," Nate replied, punching the door's control panel. Suddenly, blaring sounds erupted around them.

"Malfunction in emergency exit door override." the Vault-Tec computerized voice announced. "Please contact your Vault-Tec maintenance representative for service."

The two just frowned before looking at each other. "You know," Nora started slowly. "I just realized there are no Vault-Tec people running around…"

Nate answered by picking up the hammer on the floor, examining it. "So did I. Come on, let's enter through this other door."

Fortunately for them, the other door opened and revealed a short tunnel leading to another door. Opening it, Nate stepped forward only to gasp at something he saw on the window nearby.

It was a giant roach sticking on the window.

"Please tell me you saw that." Nate asked Nora, who was equally shocked at what she saw.

"Yup." was all she could say. Nobody could blame her: her son got kidnapped, all of her fellow Vault Dwellers were dead, and now she was staring at a (roughly) a two foot long roach sticking on the widow.

The slowly approached it, trying to get a better look at it. Sensing them, the roach flew away. Nate turned to his wife and said "What the hell did we just see?"

Nora just gave him an 'I don't know' look. "The sooner we get out of here, the better." Nora said as she opened another door. "I hope we don't come across any of those."

However, she just jinxed it. Few minutes later, the came across an unsuspecting one but thanks to the hammer Nate picked up, it didn't even get a chance to…well, do what it was supposed to do. "They're roaches alright." Nate commented, trying to shake off some of its slimy bits from his makeshift weapon. Well…larger ones, I guess."

"Eww!" Nora exclaimed, seeing the gooey stuff falling on the floor. "Stuff it sergeant, we got things to do."

The next few rooms offered nothing of an explanation of what happened to the vault and its inhabitants. The mess hall was dirty and the only thing that offered something was the recreational terminal featuring the Red Menace (a salute to an old video game about King Kong and a damsel in distress). The next room, on the other hand, confused them.

"Looks like someone went on beast mode here." Nate summarized as he stood near the doorway, giving the room a once over. The sleeping area was in disarray: bunk beds overturned, mattresses on the floor, and one locker on the floor. "Wonder what happened?"

Nora just shrugged. "Let's check the other door."

Few minutes and five dead roaches later, the couple stood in front of a door labeled 'Overseer's Office'. "What do you think we'll find here?" Nate asked, staring at the door.

"Answers, I hope." Nora replied, punching the control panel at its left side.

Upon opening, the duo saw a grim sight. A skeleton was lying on the floor, behind a semi-circular desk. Half the room was ransacked, as if someone stormed it. A lone 10mm pistol was on the desk along with a terminal on it, plus some scattered papers on the floor. "Check the terminal, Nora." Nate ordered as he grabbed the pistol, checking for ammo. "I'll look for weapons."

Nora just nodded as she started looking at the terminal's files, revealing the real reason behind the vault. Apparently, the Vault was part of an experiment regarding the effects of being frozen for a long period of time. The Vault's scientists would monitor the vital signs of the test subjects. Problem is, the vault's supplies weren't set for a long period of time. Six months after, the security personnel apparently revolted and left it. It was probably a bad move, Nora reflected, as radiation would probably be still present outside.

Nate, on the other hand, had found some spare ammo, an extra pistol, and a weird looking box on the wall, ice covering it. "Honey, does the computer say anything about a freezing box?"

"That's a weapon." Nora answered as she came besides him. "Some kind of portable freezing gun."

"Seriously?" Nate said, giving her an incredulous look. When she nodded, Nate whistled. "Damn…wish I had some bobby pins. Probably can lock pick it and use that baby."

It was Nora's turn to stare at her husband. "You can pick locks?" she asked him, getting a nod from him. "You never told me that?"

"I didn't?"

Nora shook her head. "How did you learn to do that?"

"When I was a kid." Nate replied nonchalantly. "Tough neighborhood means you got to learn to be tough: join gangs, do street fights, pick pockets, the likes. Oh, here's another one. Might come in handy later."

Nora grabbed the second 10 mm pistol Nate offered her, checking the ammo. Seeing it sufficient, she asked. "Have any other secrets for me?" Nora jokingly asked.

Nate just shrugged and grinned. "May be…" Nora just gave him a light punch on his shoulder before pointing towards the open door.

"I opened the emergency escape tunnel so let's get out of here and let's hope we don't run into those roaches anymore."

The moment they did, however, made Nora think she spoke too soon. In front of them were another bunch of roaches who quickly noticed the couple. Thanks to the pistols they got, however, made them much easier to deal with. "I think," Nate suggested as he reloaded his pistol. "You should stop saying things like that."

"Kind of agree with you." Nora said as they two started walking towards the end of the hallway. Opening the door, it finally revealed the famous Vault Tec cog door…along with three skeletons lying around and two other roaches nibbling on them. Sighing, Nora made quick work of the roaches even before they could notice the couple.

"Hey look, it's a Pip-Boy!" Nate exclaimed as he knelt down on one of the skeletons near the cog's control panel. "There's another one over there, enough for two of us!"

As Nate went over to get the yet another famous Vault-Tec invention, Nora went to the control panel and pushed the large yellow button on it. "Pip-Boy interface required to activate Vault door." a computerized female voice announced. "Have a nice day."

"Have a nice day my ass." Nate grumbled as he walked towards Nora. "Here, put this on while I open the door."

Connecting a wire from the Pip-Boy to the control panel, Nate saw his portable computer screen open up and say 'VAULT DOOR REMOTE ACCESS: READY'. Unplugging the connector, Nate punched the button and wailing sounds started blaring as the door began to open.

Nora, on the other hand, was examining the Pip-Boy. It had two small knobs at the left side, one with selecting different options on it (namely Status, Map, and Radio) and another to scan for a radio signal while a tiny Geiger counter was set near the bottom half of the screen. Checking out each, Nora was pleased to know that this mini-computer could actually check out the health of its wearer (pleasing her more when it showed her she wasn't injured or anything). The map, on the other hand, was fairly useless since its last update were years ago (exactly 20,000 days). Radio was useless as well since it couldn't pick up any signal (then again, they were underground).

"You know," Nora noted once the door finally opened, "these Pip-Boys are fairly awesome."

"You can say that again." Nate answered, still looking at his. "Shame, the map would have been very helpful right now. By the way, you injured? I have some stimpacks with me."

Nora shook her head as she stood in front of the cat walk leading towards the Vault's exit. "You ready?"

"This is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." was Nate's answer to her. Nora chuckled and started walking pass the cog door, the two seeing a circular yet gated shaft before a set of stairs. As the approached it, a flat elevator came down and the gate opened, rust slowing it down. As they stepped on the elevator, Nate turned to his wife and asked. "You ready?"

Nora just grinned. "I was born ready."

Slowly, the flat elevator rose upwards just a voice said "Enjoy your return to the surface. And thank you for choosing Vault-Tec."

"You know," Nora dryly began, "if I ever get my hands on that guy who made us go here, I'm going to punch him."

Nate was about to answer when the dark ceiling slowly opened, letting light shine down on them and forcing him to cover his eyes. Once his eyesight began to steady, Nate stared at the space in front of him before he realized what he was looking at.

It was Sanctuary…or what's left of it. A few houses were left standing, some weird looking structures, and the trees around them were barren as if it was winter. The ground was dull and brown and slightly cold breeze flew past them, making the couple shiver.

"I…I expected something worse." Nora announced, Nate nodding too.

"Me too." Nate said, agreeing to his wife's statement. "What year do you think it is now?"

"2137?" Nora guessed. "Shaun was kidnapped 60 years ago right?" In reality, Nora wasn't so sure. If the bombs did fall and someone took Shaun afterwards, radiation should have already entered the Vault. Plus, they would have contended with the security team that was left in the vault.

"I think we should change our clothes," Nate stated, looking about to see if anyone was around them. "We're sitting ducks out here."

"I agree. Problem is, we don't have any clothes besides what we're wearing, Nate." Nora pointed out.

"Not if our house is still standing." he argued, pulling out a key on his pocket. "I have some army fatigues under our bed. Probably still there if nobody scavenged it."

"Wait," Nora said just as Nate started walking for Sanctuary. "Do…do you think the government is still out there?"

Nate shrugged. "Dunno," he finally said. "If they were, we wouldn't be stuck in the pods back down there."

Nora conceded. It didn't take a genius to figure that out. "Point taken."

As the two walked, it was evident that not everyone survived. Bodies littered the path heading towards the vault, all of them skeletons. However, upon reaching the village proper, the couple was treated to a rare sight.

"Codsworth?" Nora shouted upon seeing their trusty Mr. Handy idling about their ruined house. "Is that you?"

"As I live and breathe…" the flying, three handed robot began, its British voice filling the air. "It's…it's really you!"

"Codsworth," Nate asked, looking around his former homestead. "What…what happened to the world?"

"The world sir? Well…it's dull around here sir." the Mr. Handy robot replied happily. "It'll be much more exciting with you and miss back! Where is the young Shaun, if I may ask?"

"He's gone, goddamit!" Nora exclaimed angrily, surprising the two. "Someone took him, someone stole our son!"

Surprisingly, Nate and Nora saw Codsworth suddenly stiffening. "It's worse than I thought. Hmm…" the robot began, as if diagnosing them. "You're suffering for hunger-induced paranoia. Not eating for 200 years will do that to you."

It sounded like a bad joke but given the world has already ended, it sounded more like a punishment. "200 years?" Nate repeated slowly, still not comprehending it. "What…are you…"

"Bit of a 210, actually mum, sir—give or take the Earth's rotation and some dings to the old chronometer." Codsworth confessed, chuckling. It would have been funny had it not been for the ruins that surrounded them. "I guessed that means you're _very_ late for dinner!"

Nora, feeling worried about Codsworth (as he was like family already), asked. "Codsworth…you're acting a little weird. What's wrong?"

With that, the robot started crying – or sounded like it was crying. "I…I…oh mum, it's just been so horrible! Two centuries…" The Adams couple just stared at each other as their faithful robot started babbling about cleaning and other stuff.

"Two…two centuries!" Nora mumbled, turning to look at Nate's eyes. "We've been gone for two centuries!"

"Nora, we are alive and that's all that matters right now." Nate said comfortingly before turning to his loyal robot. "Stay with me Codsworth, focus!"

"I'm afraid I don't know anything sir. The bombs came and all of you left in such a hurry, I thought you…you were all dead!" Codsworth confessed sadly. "But enough feeling sorry for myself. Shall we search the neighborhood together? Young Shaun may turn up just yet!"

Knowing Nora was nearing her breaking point (Nate himself was feeling such), he ordered "Why don't you search the area, Codsworth? Nora and I…we need some time to digest all of this."

"Proud to serve, sir!" Codsworth said understandingly. "Insect smashing time!"

Nate watched the Mr. Handy fly off to search before noticing Nora enter the house. Following her in it, Nate was surprised to see most of the house was intact – including the furniture – as Nora sat on a very dusty couch. "210 years, Nate…we were gone for 210 years!" Nora repeated hysterically as Nate sat beside her. "And Shaun! He was kidnapped about 60 years ago!"

Nate hugged her as she started crying on his chest. "I know, Nora, I know." he said supportively, rubbing her back as she cried. "Remember what we promised when we got out of those damn pods?"

Nora shook her head, wiping out her tears as her mind was still processing the information Codsworth gave them. "We promised to find the bastards who did this us and give him hell, remember?" Nate reminded her, giving her an optimistic smile. "Now, where's that strong woman I married during the closing days of the Alaskan Reclamation campaign?"

Nora's answer was a simple yet passionate kiss. "Right here in front of you, sergeant." She quietly said after they broke off. "This is one of the reasons I married you, you know?"

A cough behind them made them realized Codsworth returned. "I'm afraid young Shaun isn't here, mum, sir." Codsworth said sadly. "However, I did find these in the other houses. Thought it might come in handy for you two." Placing on the still standing coffee table, the robot placed a weird looking pistol, another 10mm pistol, a 'Grognak the Barbarian' and a 'You're SPECIAL' comic, and some bobby pins.

"Hey!" Nate exclaimed happily, examining the 10 bobby pins. "Finally, I can pick some locks."

Nora, on the other hand, was checking out the other pistol Codsworth scavenged. It was rusted, that was for sure and most of its parts were made of pipes. "What do you think this is?" she asked her husband.

"That would be a pipe pistol, mum." Codsworth offered, who was idly floating behind them, before suggesting "What about Concord, mum, sir?"

The two looked at Codsworth. "What about it?" Nora asked, eyebrow raised.

"Plenty of people there!" he suggested happily. "And last I checked, they only pummeled me with a few sticks before I had to run back home."

"There are still people alive in Concord?" Nate asked.

"Yes, although they're a bit rough. You remember the way?" the robot replied nonchalantly. "Just across the southern footbridge out of the neighborhood and past the Red Rocket station."

Nate looked at Nora, who just stood up and placed the pistol she was holding back on the table. "Let's change first into those fatigues you said you had, Nate."

 **# # # # # # # # # #**

Few minutes later, the two (along with Codsworth) were walking towards the village's bridge when Nate saw some walls erected along the river banks. "Codsworth, you didn't put those did you?" he asked, pointing to the wooden walls.

The robot just laughed. "Certainly not, sir. They were built by some people who tried to turn Sanctuary a village again – a settlement, from what the leader told me." the Mr. Handy replied pointing towards a large device near another one on the water. "They even built some large power generator, a large water purifier, some turrets, and even a guard post!"

"What happened to the people then, Codsworth?" Nora asked as she crouched near a downed turret near the bridge.

The robot just sighed. "Raiders happened, mum." he replied sadly. "I did help defend it but sadly, by the time I killed the last raider, everyone was dead."

Nate, who was inspecting the guard post, asked "What did you do with the bodies?"

"I gave them a proper send off by cremation, sir. Much how those old medieval movies did when all four of us watch before the bombs fell." Codsworth said proudly. "As for the raiders, I dumped them on to the river."

"I thought for the past 200 years, you were alone?" Nora pointed out.

"I was mum." Codsworth said. "But eight years ago, a group of people came here and started building. I couldn't stop them because…it was nice to have someone to talk to again."

"There, there Codsworth." Nate assured, patting him on his head. "We'll turn it back into a settlement, if you want. I just need someone to teach me who to fix those stuffs though."

Suddenly, Codsworth whistled proudly. "No fear sir! I know Mr. Arthur hid the plans around here somewhere. I'll find it and give it to you!"

Nora laughed. "Go ahead Codsworth," she encouraged happily. "If it makes you happy, do it!"

"Shall I cook dinner by the time you get home?" he then asked. "Mrs. Donald taught me how to make a stew out of some radroaches and bloatflies."

"What?" the couple suddenly asked, staring at the floating robot.

"Radroaches and bloatflies." Codsworth repeated. "They're roaches and flies that became mutated because of the radiations during the early days of the Great War."

"They're edible?" Nora asked, not comprehending what their robot was saying.

"Of course!" Codsworth replied. "Much of the animals around here have mutated except for a small few like that living dog near the Red Rocket station and some birds."

Before Nora could ask again, Nate intervened. "Pork and Beans would be nice, Codsworth. I recall seeing the fridge having at least two cans in it."

Codsworth saluted. "Very well sir. I shall cook Pork and Beans for dinner." With that, the Mr. Handy they owned left, leaving the Adams couple standing in front of the bridge alone digesting the information.

"Things are getting weirder and weirder, Nate." Nora stated, summing up everything.

Nate just chuckled, finding the whole thing funny. "How many sci-fi books said something like this would happen?" Nate pointed out as he started walking.

"It's not the same!" Nora argued backed, falling in step with her husband. "All of them said at least some form of government was left standing."

They continued walking towards the Red Rocket station (after passing a dead person and a mutated dog) when Nora heard a bark. Suddenly, a German Sheppard came running towards them, stopping only in front of them a few seconds later. "Hey, boy." Nate said as he patted the dog behind the ears. "What are you doing out here all by yourself?"

Nora knelt down beside the dog and scratched the ears. "This is probably the dog Codsworth was talking about."

Nate just nodded. "Wanna come with us pal?" he asked, getting a happy bark from it.

"I guess that's a yes!" Nora translated, smiling. Suddenly, the dog began barking as what looked like large mole rats that began popping out of the ground. "Shit, more enemies!"

Both Nora and Nate started firing at the creatures, killing two of them before the others could reach them. Luckily, when one tried to pounce on Nate, the dog jumped to his defense, pinning it down and giving Nora a chance to killing it. However, one managed to pounce on Nora, who tried to dodge it and got a gash on her left arm as a result.

Using one hand, Nora fired two shots at it, one on the body and another on the head, killing it before it could jump on her again. She turned to look at Nate, who was both wielding his hammer on one hand and his pistol on the other. Giving him support, Nora wounded three and killed two more before the dog and Nate killed the rest.

Throwing the hammer away (as it broke into two), Nate commented "What the hell were those?"

Nora just shrugged as she discarded the stimpack injection and wrapped some cloth around her gash. "Beats me. Let's ask Codsworth later, he probably knows what they are." she said before entering the Red Rocket station. "Let's see if we can find anything useful around here."

Nate and Nora explored the abandoned gas station, coming across some cigarette cartons and a bag of bottle caps. "Wonder what these are for?" Nate asked out loud. Nora, getting a clipboard, a paper, and a pen she scavenged near the terminal (that yielded info of illegal practices), started scribbling on it. "What you doing?"

"Making a list of things of things to ask Codsworth about." Nora replied, writing on the paper. "I just wish there was a survival guide or something we could look up to."

Nate just chuckled as he placed the things they found in the rucksacks they brought with them. "That would be nice."

"There," Nora said proudly, looking at her clipboard. "Let's get to Concord now, shall we."

"By the way," Nate asked as they exited the gas station. "What are we going to call the dog?"

Crouching, Nora scratched the dog's ear and said "How about Bob?"

"Bob the German Sheppard?" Nate asked incredulously, getting a glare from his wife. "How about Rush?"

Nora gave him a deadpanned look. "Really now?"

"Yeah!" Nate said happily. "When we attack, we can say 'Rush, attack!' It sounds awesome!"

Nora just face palmed. "No." she said, glaring at Nate. "But…we can call him Bobby."

"Fine…" Nate conceded, getting a grin from Nora.

As they continued walking the road, the couple saw Concord up ahead. "Wow," Nate muttered as they entered the town's outskirts. Most of Concord looked pretty desolate but fairly intact, majority of the buildings they passed boarded up. A sand bag nest was set up near the end of the street, the road leading to it cracked. Rubble seemed to be everywhere they looked. "Looks pretty intact though, Nora."

"Yeah…" Nora agreed before hearing something coming up ahead. "You hear that?" she asked, bringing her pistol up.

"Gunfire." Nate stated as the two ran towards the source. Staying close to the houses, they came upon the T-intersection where a firefight was happening. At the very end, the Museum of Freedom (an exhibit of Concord's great history) was being attacked. From a far, it looked like as if someone was holed up near the roof, firing red beams down below at whoever was attack. Creeping slowly, Nora saw a person shooting behind a wrecked truck as she crouched in front of a sandbag emplacement.

"Tango, up ahead." Nora whispered to Nate, who was crouching as well behind a wall while keeping Bob beside him. Spotting something on the floor, she picked it up and examined it. "Nate, looks like a WWII-era sten machine gun."

Nate, upon seeing the gun, nodded. "Looks like someone upgraded a pipe pistol. Wanna try it?"

Nora answered by firing at the unsuspecting person hiding behind the truck, killing the person. Nate then ran towards the truck as Nora watched his back, much how they used to do back in Alaska. "Tangos, 12 o'clock." Nate shouted as he began firing at the three people firing at the man standing on the balcony.

Nora, upon reaching him, pointed towards the sand bags set up nearer to the museum. "Go there, I'll keep you covered."

"Give me your pistol," he ordered as he ducked to reload. The attackers, now seeing they were flanked, started shooting at them as well. "I'll dual wield."

Nora tossed her pistol before standing up and laid fire upon the ones up front, giving Nate time to run towards the sandbag near the lamppost. The newly named Bobby the dog followed after him, wanting to help his new owners. One of them tried to flank Nate by going into a store. Luckily, Bobby noticed, jumped inside, and surprised the woman, who never got the chance to scream as the dog ripped her throat out. "Good job, Bobby!" Nate shouted as he fired at the last attackers.

Nora headed towards Nate's position just as the last one died, getting killed by the guy on the balcony. Looking up, Nora saw it was a black man in a light brown coat, holding what looked like a rifle. "I've got a group of settlers inside! The Raiders are almost through the door!" the man shouted desperately. "Grab that Laser Musket and help us, please!"

Nora grabbed the gun's strap as she ran towards the wall beside the door, Nate standing on the other side. "How the fuck do I use this thing?" she cursed as she slung it behind her.

Nate just shrugged. "Ask the guy later." he said, reloading both his pistols. "We got some Raiders to kill."

 **# # # # # # # # # #**

Preston Garvey, the last of the Minutemen, was thankful to God, Yahweh, or whatever his name was that sent them these two people who were now kicking the Raider's asses. The two – dressed in what looked like army fatigues – were methodically working their way up slowly, killing all of the Raiders one by one. "Thank God!" Sturges said as he looked at the couple heading towards them. "For a moment I thought we were toast!"

Preston chuckled. "Man, I don't know who you are," he told them once the entered the room. "But your timing's impeccable. Preston Garvey, Commonwealth Minutemen."

"Glad to help," the woman replied, smiling while her companion shook Preston's offered hand. "Name's Nora Adams and this is my husband, Nate."

The man saluted. "We were actually just passing through, you know." Nate said as he reloaded his pistols.

Preston just nodded, becoming serious again. "Well if that's true, we could use some more of your help." Preston said just as Nate looked out the window. "As you can see, we're in a bit of a mess here."

"You can say that again." Nate sarcastically remarked, counting the raiders outside. "Multiple contacts outside, Nora."

Nora went to the window to look at the situation and curse. Things were not looking good. These raiders, as Preston called them, were getting restless outside as the slowly approached the museum. Trying to buy sometime, Nora fired twice at the approaching raiders, trying to scare them off. "If you got a plan, Preston, better tell us now." Nora ordered as she continued taking pot shots at the raiders from the window, finding out how to use the Laser Musket earlier via a trial-by-error approach (and she had ran out of ammo for the elongated pipe pistol).

"Name's Sturges, my friends. There's a crashed vertibird up on the roof: old school, pre-war. You might've seen it on your way up here." the guy sitting on the desk beside Preston said. "Well, looks like one of its passengers left behind a serious sweet good: a complete T-45 power Armor – military issued!"

"Is it West-Tek internalized servo-system power armor?" Nate asked, knowing fully well Boston was its training ground (although a handful were used during Operation Anchorage but were mostly prototypes). He was even asked to be one of its test pilots.

If he was surprised by Nate's knowledge, Sturges didn't show it. "Hell yeah, it is!" he exclaimed, grinning. "With it, you can rip-off the vertibird's minigun and give those raiders hell!"

"Great idea," Nora dryly remarked, just as all of them were forced to duck as the raiders below started firing at Nora, trying to suppress her. "What's the catch?"

"The suit's out of juice." Sturges confessed while Preston helped Nora stall the raiders. "Probably been dry for a hundred years but it can be powered up again by—"

"—a fusion core." Nate finished, surprising the ones who came up with the plan. "I know."

"Try the generator at the basement." Nora suggested, taking the words from Sturges' mouth, as she recalled the last time the two of them visited the museum. "The tour guide said the whole building was powered by one."

Nate just nodded. "Keep them from entering, will you?" was all he said before running back down.

Preston and Sturges just stared at Nora, surprised how she knew about the generator. "How did you know about that?" Preston asked as Nora fired two more shots from her musket, one beam turning an unfortunate raider into dust.

Before she could reply, an old lady sitting on the couch suddenly proclaimed "Careful, kids…there's somethin' comin'…and it is…angry."

Nora and Preston just started at her before the former looked at the Minuteman. "What the hell was that?" she asked incredulously.

Preston just shrugged. "Beats me." he said before firing another shot at the raiders below them. "So how did you know?"

"Tell you later," she said, still concentrating on keeping the raiders back. _Plus, I don't know how they'll react to our problem._

Just then, Nate came back and was holding a fusion core on his hand. "Got it," he said, grinning. "Turns out, you can just lock pick the door."

"Show-off!" Nora shouted to him as he sped past her, heading straight for the roof, before returning fire at any of the raiders firing at them.

Once on the roof, Nate grinned at the power armor before him. Granted, it wasn't like his old suit back in Anchorage and it looked like it was moments from falling apart but still, it was a T-45d power armor and that's what counts. Attaching the fusion core to in the middle of the valve at the back, the all too familiar sound of the T-45d powering up was heard. Twisting the valve to the left, Nate stepped back as it opened before stepping back in, the suit enclosing him.

Once inside, Nate looked at the suit's status and slightly grimaced. Right arm and left leg were red, indicating it needed repair and the core was at 50%, not enough for more than five kilometers trek. The bright side, on the other hand, was the suit was still intact, no radiation in it and AP was 100%. "Just like the good ole days." Nate muttered happily, a grin on his face before grabbing the weapon in front of him.

Nora and Preston, on the other hand, were busy keeping track of the raiders when they heard a loud thud land at the street. Looking down, Nora smiled widely: Nate was in the suit and was holding the minigun. "Come and get me bitches!" Nate shouted through the suit's external speakers before firing the dream weapon of any Power Armor wielder: the CZ55 personal minigun.

With the same firing rate of its older and younger brothers – the CZ53 personal minigun and CZ57 Avenger minigun, respectively – the CZ55 was the more elegant version of the two. Instead of the usual designs, the CZ55 was belt fed and had a much larger magazine (storing up to 500 5mm bullets in it), firing from four barrels. However, most of the CZ55s built were made for assault-class vertibird usage as they were much heavier and were meant for air support for ground troops, only a handful made it to the hands of T-45d and T-51b operators (mostly scavenged from down vertibirds).

Yet Nate was here, standing in front of the Museum of Freedom, raining down 5mm bullets on the attacking—

 _Bang_

Everyone – including the ones on the balcony of the museum – slowly stopped firing when they heard the sound.

 _Bang_

An inhuman roar followed it as the barrels of the CZ55 slowed down.

 _Bang_

The grate at the end of the street suddenly flew upwards as a huge brown horned beast came crawling out of it, releasing a loud roar that would have made any weak willed person piss on their pants. At that moment, everyone on the street knew this was creature needed to die first. As quick as lighting, every single weapon that could launch something – whether rocks, bullets, or beams – opened fired at the creature as it began to rampage, throwing objects more than half its weight as if it was a paper. Nobody let up as the creature (a Deathclaw, according to a shouting raider shooting at it) ran about, swiping and smashing all the things around it. Finally, after ten minutes of raining hell on it, the Deathclaw finally gave one last roar before slumping back down on the ground.

Slowly, all the survivors (fifteen raiders plus Nate) of the attack walked towards it. "Is…is it dead?" one of the raiders asked fearfully, gun still pointing at it.

The answer to that question was a short burst from a minigun, getting no reaction from the creature. "Yup, it's dead." Nate replied to the raider. Everyone fell silent until he asked out loud "So…do we keep on fighting each other or do we go our separate ways?"

 **# # # # # # # # # #**

"Nate Andrew Adams!" Nora berated her husband an hour later at the museum's ground floor. "I cannot believe you had the nerve to pull such an act!"

Sturges was rolling on the floor while Preston tried (miserably) to burst from laughing as Nora continued to scold her husband for what he did. After he gave his suggestion, all the raiders turned to him and gave him a bewildered look for suggesting such an option before a free for all shoot out happened. In the end, Nate came out of it as the last man standing (losing only the entire left arm of the T-45d and getting a bullet graze on said arm). Needless to say, Nora was not impressed.

Nate just gave a sheepish smile as he scratched his head. "Alright, alright…I'm sorry, okay?" he apologized to her as Nora fussed over his arm once again. "I won't do it again."

All of the survivors were at the ground floor ready to move out. The Longs (a pair of traders Preston rescued days earlier) and Mama Murphy (the old lady who gave the prediction about the Deathclaw) were sitting around a small lamp Sturges brought down with him. The Adams were nearby Preston and Sturges while Nate's newly acquired power armor blocked the door way.

"Either way, that was a pretty amazing display - both of you, actually." Preston praised, earning a grin from Nate and a warm smile from Nora. "I'm glad you guys are on our side."

"Feeling's mutual, Preston." Nora kindly replied as she stood up. "You guys going to be okay now?"

"Yeah, for a while anyway." Preston said sadly. "We can at least move someplace safer now."

"Why don't you guys come with us?" Nate offered, standing up as well. "We got a settlement up north that needs populating anyway."

"Really?" was all Preston could say. "You…you really mean that?"

Nora shrugged. "Yeah," she confirmed, not getting why the Minuteman was shocked or why everyone was now staring at them. "It already got a generator that needs fixing, a purifier that needs power, and people to live in."

"Oh that's wonderful, dears!" Mama Murphy proclaimed happily. "But there's more to your destiny, isn't there? I've seen it…and I know the pain you two suffer…"

"Destiny?" Nate repeated slowly, wondering what the old lady was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"You're a couple…out of time, out of hope…but all is not lost," the lady cryptically replied. "I can feel…your son's energy…he's…he's alive…"

Preston just sighed. "Look, Mama Murphy's just—"

"You know where Shaun is?" Nora demanded, grabbing the old lady immediately. "You know where our baby boy is?"

"The Sight's foggy…but I can feel it." she replied, shivering slightly. "And I don't even need the Sight to tell you where to start looking: the great, green jewel of the Commonwealth, Diamond City…"

"Shaun's in the Diamond City?" Nate questioned further. Hope was finally rising on his son's whereabouts.

"Look kid, I'm tired now. Maybe if you bring me some chems, I can—"

"Absolutely not, Mama Murphy!" Preston cut angrily. "That junk will kill you! I've told you many times already…."

Nate and Nora, on the other hand, tuned out of the argument and move away from the group. "You heard that, Nate." Nora said excitedly, squeezing his arms. "Shaun's alive!"

Smiling madly, Nate gave her a bone-crushing hug. "It's not much…but at least we now know where to begin."

"First things first: let's get these guys to Sanctuary first." Nora said, prioritizing things before calling the others. "You guys ready to move out?"

"More than ready!" Sturges said, jumping up and down like a kid who got his Christmas wish early. "Let's move out!"

Nate entered back into the suit and started walking, taking point for the ragtag convoy for Sanctuary along with Bobby. Sturges, the Longs, and Mama Murphy made up the middle while Preston and Nora took the rear of it.

"So, what are the Minutemen all about Preston?" Nora asked the Minuteman as they walked the streets leading outside of Concord, the sun beginning to set.

Preston chuckled. "We're citizen soldiers. 'The people of Commonwealth banding together to protect ourselves at the minute's notice' was our motto, our slogan." he proudly proclaimed before sighing. "Sadly, our leaders forgot what we truly stand for, breaking us apart. I think I'm the last Minutemen here, along with Sturges, of course."

"That's a good idea," she replied, liking the idea of helping each other. "If you're looking for more volunteers, you can count Nate and I. We were once soldiers, trained to protect the people and we will gladly do so again."

Preston chuckled becoming thoughtful. "By the way, you never did answer my question earlier."

Nora sighed. "Fine, you guys deserve it anyway." she said before looking at the stars that were slowly appearing in the night's sky. "Nate and I…we lived under a rock, literally. Some idiots at Vault-Tec, a company _way before_ the bombs fell, decided to make an experiment on what happens to people frozen. Lucky us, we got drafted to the experiment unwillingly the day the bombs fell."

The Minuteman finally connected the dots. "That's why Mama Murphy said you guys were 'out of time'."

Nora nodded. "Bingo, Preston – and that's not best part yet: our son, Shaun, was kidnapped." she muttered angrily, kicking a stone along the way. " _60 years ago_. That's right: one day, one bastard decided to open up our pods, get my son, lock as back into it, and freeze us again. We just woke up this morning, found out my baby boy could be dead already or doesn't know us, and the world has gone to hell."

Preston, who was silent throughout her outburst, replied "Well, since you did help us, maybe we Minutemen – or what's left of it – can help you." Preston offered, smiling at Nora. "I'll put in a word of mouth around if anybody knows a 60 year old man named Shaun."

Nora gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks Preston. I know we just met earlier and all…"

"It's the least I could do for you. Oh, here's some caps as payment for what you did earlier for us." Preston said, handing over a bag of caps to Nora. Realizing why Nora was staring at him in confusion, Preston smacked his head. "I forgot, you guys just woke up! Caps are the monetary system nowadays. Don't ask me how it happened, it just did."

Nora stared a little more at the bag of caps before putting it back on her rucksack. "Well…looks like Nate and I have enough money to survive now." she said before chuckling. "Nate's going laugh about this for sure."

"Halt!" Nate suddenly shouted followed by Bobby's bark, stopping the group, "identify yourselves or I fire!"

The rear guards just shared a look before making a mad dash towards Nate. Upon arriving, Nora saw it was another group of people – surprisingly – accompanied by Power Armor wielders…with an interesting addition. Instead of the standard black color, these power armors (three T-45ds and three T-51bs) were colored in various ways: one was designed with flames jutting all over it, another had colorful tattoos, while one was painted bright blue with flames on it.

"Dude, we're friendlies!" the one wearing a T-51b with (shockingly) a Vault-Tec paint design, sounding like those car enthusiasts back before the bombs fell. "We were just…Yo Preston, that you?"

Nate and Nora turned to Preston, who waved at them. "Hey Zeke, what're you doing here?" he asked before turning to the Adams couple. "Nate, Nora, meet Zeke of the Atom Cats. If you're looking for Power Armor mods, they're the best people to buy from."

Nate gave them a once over, sizing them up. "You guys military?"

"Nah man," the only one with no paint job behind Zeke replied. "We're just Power Armor enthusiasts. Name's Duke, by the way."

"So, what are you guys doing here?" Preston then asked, wondering what they were doing so far from their 'Atom Cats' Garage.

Zeke just gave a sigh. "Gunners man! A small detachment we can handle, but half of the entire Gunner faction? Nah!"

"What happened?" Nora asked, making a mental note to ask Codsworth about these Gunners.

"Well, we were just chillin' back in our garage when suddenly, the Gunners popped outta nowhere and started firing at us! We handle them time to time, but they've never attacked us this ferociously. After the tenth wave bro, we were just like 'Damn, these guys want our armors so bad!'" Duke told them before pointing at Zeke. "Zeke here then decided that it was time to abandon the ole Red Rocket home base. So we rig the place to blow up and brought all the things we could carry. Damn, I wish I could have seen the faces of those Gunners when it blew up!"

The other Atom Cats joined in laughing until someone behind them said "Yeah, until you guys brought the Gunners to our place."

The speaker was wearing a green shirt and had a hood over his head. Behind were four other people towing along…well, three two-headed cows carrying some baggage. "The Warwick Homestead was under attacked by Gunners as well, Preston." he said angrily, looking at the Minuteman. "I was firing all my flares up in the air, waiting for any of you Minutemen to come and help us. None came, and these Atom Cats brought in more people to shoot at."

Zeke bristled. "Oi, watch your mouth Roger." the Atom Cats' leader warned. "If it weren't for us Atom Cats, you guys would be dead."

"I'm thankful for that, don't worry." the man, Roger, countered, pointing angrily at Preston. "What I'm angry is why didn't any of you Minutemen came to help us?"

Preston was about to answer but Nora beat him to it. "That because the Minutemen is just down to two loyal people, Mr. Roger." Nora said calmly, looking at Roger dead in the eye, the Laser Musket slightly raised to give a threatening posture. "And both of them were bogged down trying to help a group of survivors stave off a raider attack."

"Now, if you got a problem," Nate continued, the speaker making his voice more threatening, shifting the weight of his CZ55. "I suggest you keep it for the time being. We're out in the open and chances of getting attacked are increasing by the second."

"Alright, listen up!" Nora shouted, getting everyone's attention. "Since were larger now, everyone's going to have to play a part in this convoy. Zeke, are you guys good with weapons?"

When he nodded, Nora smiled. "Good. Zeke, you stay with Preston and protect the rear. The five of you," Nora said, pointing to the remained Atom Cats, "are to protect our flanks as we walk: two for the first group with one in front of it and another two for the second. My Husband and I will take point and scout ahead."

"Why should we listen to you?" a semi-bald man in a white shirt from Roger's group asked suspiciously.

Nate just walked up to him and leaned, bringing his helmet close to the man's left ear. "Because if you don't," Nate whispered loudly, enough for everyone to hear. "You won't survive the night."

With that, Nate started walking forward, Nora and Bobby closely following. "You coming or what?" Nora asked, turning back at them as they were still frozen with shock from what Nate did.

"Alright Atom Cats, you heard the lady!" Zeke shouted, getting out of his stupor. "Duke, Johnny D., Roxy, you go with the Warwicks. Rowdy, Bluejay, go with Sturges' group. WHO ROCKS?"

"ATOM CATS!" its members shouted before going into formation around the convoy. Nora smiled and started walking, catching up to Nate.

Zeke, walking with Preston, said "Damn Preston, that lady's good!"

"She's married, Zeke." Preston informed him, getting a mock reaction from him. "She and her husband…are well, new all to this."

"Vault Dwellers?" Zeke guessed, getting a nod the Minuteman. "Don't act like one though."

"That's because they have military training." Preston revealed as the convoy walked past an abandon Red Rocket station. "Well, they act like they have, that is…but I have a feeling they're a real deal Zeke."

Meanwhile, up front, Nora was recounting what she found out about Preston, the Commonwealth Minutemen, and the monetary system of today. "…so that's about it." she finished, looking at Nate to get his reaction.

"That's cool…I guess." Nate replied as the two reached the bridge to Sanctuary. "Though I'm surprised people actually used bottle caps as money nowadays."

"So am I." agreed Nora before laughing. "I just realized: we have about five hundred caps with us."

"Wonder what we can buy with this stuff?" Nate asked out loud, getting a shrug from his wife.

"Beats me but…I hope it's enough to support us."

Upon reaching the bridge, Codsworth was there waiting for them there. "Good evening mum, sir!" he greeted happily. "I take it you manage to find something in Concord?"

Nate just chuckled. "Some things, people, a dog and mutated cows." Nate informed the Mr. Handy. "By the way, did you find any caps lying around?"

"Of course, sir!" Codsworth announced, producing a small bags jingling with caps. "I had forgotten to inform you that today's monetary system has been changed. Instead of dollars, it seems caps are what people use to buy and sell…along with bartering, of course. I do believe the exchange rate is now is a dollar for a cap."

Nora, who was kneeling down to scratch Bobby's ears, nodded understandingly just as the rest reached them. "Ah, traders…although I do believe its protection detail is too much." observed Codsworth as Duke stopped in front of the four.

"More of like refuges, Codsworth." Nora corrected as she stood up. "There houses were attacked by…Gunners, was it?"

Duke nodded. "Looked to me like the biggest gathering of Gunners ever since the attack on Quincy." the Atom Cat member revealed. "Wonder what got their panties in a twist?"

"Shall I escort them to the Central House, mum?" Codsworth then ask as Preston became intrigued at the statue near the bridge. "It's the 'House of Tomorrow' refurbished to be the town hall by Mr. MacArthur, the old settlement's leader before they were all killed."

"Do that, Codsworth." Nate said, agreeing to his suggestion before turning to the others. "Alright everyone, please follow Codsworth here to the Central House. Sanctuary's not much…but it's defendable."

As everyone began crossing the bridge, Preston stared at the statue before whistling. "Well I'll be damned. It's the monument to the original Minutemen. I knew that is was somewhere around Concord." he said out loud, amazement in his voice. "That means…this right here must be the Old North Bridge, where the first shots of the American Revolution were fired."

"That's true, Preston." Nora replied, placing right hand on his shoulder. "The Kennedy Administration built this village for the Commonwealth veterans of the Alaskan Reclamation campaign. It was a reward for what we did during the war."

"I'd call that the best omen I've seen since we left Quincy." Preston mused, beaming like a child on Christmas day.

"Yeah…I don't know what you're talking about, boss." Sturges remarked, his arms crossed as he stared at the statue alongside Preston. "But I'm glad you're happy about it."

Nate just chuckled before seeing a flashing light in his suit. "Shit, I'm about to lose power Nora," he informed his wife once everyone was across the bridge. "I'll run up ahead and park this baby."

"Go ahead, honey, I'll follow shortly." she replied before turning to Sturges. "So, how long is it going to take to repair the generators?"

Spotting the fairly large – yet intact – generators, Sturges grinned. "Give me a five, ten minutes tops." the engineer proposed. "I can have the baby powered up in no time."

With that, Sturges ran up ahead, leaving Preston and Nora alone. "You know, I don't think I told you what happened to the Minutemen, how I became the last one." Preston revealed as the two started walking across the bridge.

"I'm listening," Nora told him, encouraging Preston.

"It all started with the Quincy Massacre: where all the Minutemen betrayed each other…and the people they were supposed to protect." Preston disclosed sadly. "I was with Colonel Hollis' group when a mercenary group called the Gunners attacked Quincy, its people calling for the Minutemen for help."

"Sadly," Preston continued, staring off into the distance. "We were the only ones that came. The other groups…they just turned their backs on us…and the folks in Quincy. Only a few of us got out alive, the colonel was killed before he could get out, so I ended up in charge of the survivors. We never found a safe place to settle, it was always one disaster after the other. That's how we ended up in Concord and with you two showing up."

Before they reached the bridges end, Nora stopped the de facto leader of the Minutemen. "Preston, as long as you don't give up," she began, staring straight into his eyes, "the Minutemen will survive."

"That's the thing," the man muttered, loud enough for Nora to hear. "I'm not about to give up – but I can't protect the Commonwealth all by myself. Hell, I could barely protect these people!"

Nora then smiled, surprising Preston. "Then consider me – and Nate, once I've told him the whole thing – as your first recruits." she offered. "We've known war once, Preston, and if there's one thing we know about—"

"—is that war, war never changes." Nate revealed as walked towards his wife's side, crossing his arms while grinning madly. "Count me in for this Preston. I still have a few bones to pick, anyway."

"That…that means a lot, coming from you guys." Preston said, feeling relived that he could still count on others. "But I can't rebuild it: I'm a soldier, not a leader. However, I do know two people who can…and they're standing right in front of me."

Nora frowned. "Why us? We're just new to the whole thing?"

"Besides, we didn't even know what we were doing half the time we were out there! I mean, Nora only manage to actually use the Laser Musket _after_ a quick trial by error routine." Nate added, getting a punch from his wife. "What, you know it's true?"

"And yet you came, guns blazing, as you attacked the raiders – even before I asked for your help." Preston countered, a plan forming in his head. "You took charge of this ragtag convoy without getting my consent _and_ you managed to make everyone follow your orders when we met up with the Warwicks and Atom Cats. If anyone can turn the Minutemen around, it's you guys."

Nate and Nora shared a look. "We'll…we'll talk about it first." Nora replied, still unsure how to proceed. "Then we'll tell you in the morning."

Preston conceded. After all, it was a large task that needed to be thought over first. "Alright," Preston replied, shouldering his Laser Musket. "But I do hope you will accept it."

As Preston walked away, Nate turned to Nora and said "What the hell did we get into?"

* * *

 _ **Awesome Notes & Notifications:**_

 _Hi there everyone, Pinoy Gamer is back in action!_

 _I know so of you are wondering why I have written another one while not following up my_ The Terran Variable _story. Truth is, after seeing the AWESOMENESS of Fallout 4, the new in-game stuff Bethesda Software added, and the story of the Sole Survivor, I just couldn't stop my brain from creating this story._

 _Although I haven't played the game (*cough*nomoney*cough*), I have been watching walkthroughs of some the best Youtubers out there - namely theRadBrad, Tetra Ninja, TmarTn2, and RajmanGaming HD - and drawing from them the elements for this story. Officially, everything here will be a Alternate Universe BUT most of the Fallout 4 content will be here._

 _Below this is the story behind my Characters (once I have the game, I will use these characters as my basis) so you guys can understand why Nate and Nora (the official names of Male or Female SS spouse, respectively) are acting as such, using those kinds of things, and why certain things are done by one of them._

Nate Adams

-Rank: Sargeant (Alaskan Reclamation, 108th Infrantry Regiment)

-Biography (Pre-Great War)

Born on April 11, 2040, Nate Adams was a strong and hardheaded boy. Having lived in a rough nieghborhood, he learned how to be tough and brave. After a stint as a Mechanical Engineer for Red Rocket for 3 years, he was unfortunately drafted by the army when the Sino-American War broke out. After boot camp, he was sent to Alaska along with the 108th Infranty Regiment to help in its reclamation, experiecing 10 years of hell and being one of the first pilots of the T-45d Power Armor. During the war, he married Nora Hasley, a Captain in the 101st Airborne Regiment and had a son named Shaun.

-Equipment and Abilities

Nate was your typical army grunt and can pilot Power Armors (having been one of its first). Likewise, he was very good in handling heavy weaponry and assult rifles (especially AER9). He was also good in hand-to-hand combat and can set traps, repair items and modify weaponry (evident with his Mech. Eng. degree). He was an able bodied man and was considered VERY lucky by his friends and family.

(S=4;P=2;E=4;C=2;I=2;A=4;L=3)

Nora Adams

-Rank: Captain (Alaskan Reclamation, 101st Airborne Regiment)

-Biography (Pre-Great War)

Nora Adams nee Hasley was born on January 11, 2041 to Jacob and Catherine Hasley. As a child, she grew up surrounded by a teacher and carpenter who ensured she was given the best education they had around them, resulting her becoming really smart. Living in a well-off neighborhood, she was very polite, kind, and helpful. She took Political Science in college and later got a degree in Law. As she began her practice, she was unfortunately commissioned as a captain in the 101st Airborn Regiment when the Sino-American War broke out. She served there with her squad (nicknamed Silent Hunters) for eight years before getting married to Nate Adams (a 108th T-45d pilot) and pregnante with Shaun, forcing her to get a medical discharge from the army.

-Equipment and Abilities

Because she was exposed to education at an early age, Nora was smart. She was also perceptive and had good eyesight since her father taught her carpentry as she grew up - a skill that would later help her in her time as a sniper for the 101st. Coupled that with having good charisma, Nora was well loved by all her friends, family, and the soldiers under her command who would always look up to her for leadership. She also had a knack for handling sniper rifles and pistols: the two most important weapon of any sniper. Many considered her one lucky girl because she always got out of any encounter either unhurt or victorious.

(S=2;P=4;E=2;C=4;I=4;A=2;L=3)

 _For the fans of_ The Terran Variable _, don't worry about me abandoning it because I won't. Expect it to be updated around last week of December since I finally have this story up and flying._

 _Finally, please do not forget to leave a review_ _/comments/constructive criticism and click that Favorite or Follow button (whatever works for you)_ _on this story. Remember, it is the reviews/comments/constructive criticism, follows, and favorites that keeps our (myself and my fellow writers) stories afloat. Enjoy!_


	2. First Steps

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE FALLOUT GAMES

 **From the Imaginative Mind of Pinoy Gamer**

 **In collaboration with [Enter Text Here] Productions**

 **Presents...**

 **The Commonwealth's Rebrith**

 **SUMMARY:** The one holding Shaun wasn't killed by Kellog when the Institute raided Vault 111 but was rather knocked out by him. Now, after getting out of the damn cryogenic pods, Nate and Nora Adams swore vengeance to whoever kidnapped their son...problem is, they have to create a home base first, recruit people to join a militia they suddenly became leaders too, fight mutated creatures and all manifestations of men's evil, and survive the harsh Commonwealth Wasteland all the while looking for Shaun. Well...it was better than being stuck in a pod.

* * *

Chapter 2: First Steps

[October 23, 2287]

Nate and Nora Adams just stared at the radstag (a two-headed mutated deer in the Commonwealth Wasteland) stew in front of them before looking back at Codsworth. "Are…are you sure this is edible?" Nora asked suspiciously, poking the stew with a fork.

The Adams couple were inside the garage of what Codsworth called the 'Central House' (in reality, it was Sanctuary's model house that salespeople would show to potential buyers) along with everyone else. Prior to their release from the pods, Sanctuary was apparently converted into a settlement by a group of travelers lead by a Mr. Arthur. Codsworth allowed these people to settle inside Sanctuary just for the sake of having company, a good move in the long run because these settlers built power generators, a large water purifier, and some downed turrets that the Adams and company were making use of.

"Of course, mum!" Codsworth proudly stated. "Mrs. Donald taught me every fine detail to cooking the 'wasteland meals' and with my programming, I can assure you these meals are made to the perfection!"

Roger Warwick, who was sitting at the garage's end, mockingly asked "What, never tasted radstag before?"

Nate gave him a glare. "Yes." Nate retorted back, surprising everyone save Preston. "For your information, my wife and I were forced to join a Vault-Tec experiment regarding what happens to people when they were frozen for a long period of time. So forgive us for not knowing the ways of the wasteland."

Everyone just stared at them (though the couple were still eyeing the bowl suspiciously) when Duke asked "Vault-Tec? You mean those guys who built underground fallout shelters for pre-war people?"

When Nora nodded, Zeke whistled. "Damn…so the rumors are true."

This got Nate's attention, along with everyone else. "What rumors?" he asked, his eyebrow raised.

Zeke shrugged. "Well, according to some traders coming from the Capital Wasteland, Vault-Tec created two sets of vaults: one set were fallout shelters for people to survive in while another set were for experiments, ranging from scientific to cultural." Zeke revealed, garnering a gasp from Nora.

"Are…are you telling me some vaults…were created for experiments?" Nora asked, shocked by the information along with everyone else.

Zeke grimly nodded. "Yeah, and according to the traders, one of these vaults resulted in creating the Capital Super Mutants." the Atom Cats leader recalled, getting a gasp from everyone (save the couple, who didn't know what a Super Mutant was).

"Super Mutants are…huge hulking beast with little to no intelligence and have a tongue for human meat," Preston informed the Adams, adding "much like that pre-War super hero they called…Hulk, I think?"

Getting a picture, the two shuddered while June Warwick, Roger's wife, asked "So these Vaults were created for experiments?"

Zeke nodded before adding "According to the trader, that is. Though I did met a dude who claimed he was from the Capital. Said this 'Lone Wanderer' – some girl who came from a vault and accidentally became its savior – discovered the real reason Super Mutants capture humans. Turns out, Super Mutants were once humans only to be infected by virus."

Everyone shuddered at the implication. "Are you saying…that there's probably a Vault out here that's creating super mutant?" Roger asked fearfully.

"Dunno man, I just hope those Suppies die out already!" Zeke exclaimed. "They're some tough sons of bitches, mind you!"

"Hold up," Nora cut angrily, raising her hands. "Can we go back to the topic at hand: are these things edible or not?"

Sturges, who was now in starting his second bowl, just grinned at her. "Of course, we're eating it!" he exclaimed happily.

Nora just face palmed. "I mean, will we get any radiation poisoning from eating it?"

Rowdy, another Atom Cats member, shook her head. "Nope." she stated, munching on the meat. "Well…probably but it's small enough for your body to resist."

This, however, freaked the two out. "We'll get radiation poisoning from this?" Nate exclaimed fearfully, now staring at the bowl in a scared manner.

Sturges just laughed as he set his bowl down. "Pal, everything you eat out here is filled with _very tiny_ amount of rads. It won't kill you but it is there."

The two still stared at the bowl as if it was a bomb until Preston produced two bottles of Nuka Cola. "Here," he offered, giving it to them. "If you're afraid of the taste, these will remove it."

Slowly – but surely – Nate took a small bite from it, expecting the meat to taste like rubber. Instead, he got nothing and it felt like he was just chewing something without taste. "What's the taste supposed to be, anyway?" he asked tentatively.

"Uh…radstag meat, I guess?" Bluejay, another Atom Cats member, offered.

Nate swallowed, still not tasting anything before drinking some Nuka Cola, waiting for its cherry taste to hit his throat. Instead, he got nothing but liquid running down his throat. "It's official, I can't taste anything."

Nora then tried it, tasting nothing as well. "You sure you added seasoning to this Codsworth?" she asked, turning to her Mr. Handy.

"Of course mum!" he exclaimed proudly. "I even added some seasoning I harvested myself."

"You guys are probably experiencing some side effects from being frozen for 210 years." Roger guessed, getting weird looks from the others. "What? Never tried putting ice on your tongue and then eating afterwards?"

Sturges understood what he was trying to say. "That's probably what you guys are experiencing," the Minutemen's engineer added. "Being frozen for a long time could probably do just that."

With that, Nora and Nate groaned – and much to everyone's amusement – finished their bowl quickly.

"Got to admit," Nate began as he pushed his away. "Never thought I'll eat a radiated deer for dinner."

Nora just glared at him. "Don't remind me Nate!" she begged as she swallowed her last. "I'm imagining I'm eating that stew back in Anchorage and not mutated creatures!"

Suddenly, the two found their bowl being refilled by Codsworth. The two just stared at him in horror as Codsworth happily hummed all the way while refilling their bowls. "Codsworth…" Nate asked slowly, staring in shock at the robot. "Why?"

"Because a bowl of radstag stew is not enough to compensate for 229,950 missed meals." Codsworth said with finality. "Three of these should be enough to get you two back to shape!"

Everyone burst with laughter as they saw the looks on the couple's faces. "Ya know," Zeke quipped loudly, getting everyone's attention. "I have a good feeling about this group and its new settlement."

Nate raised his cola. "Amen to that, brother!" he shouted, everyone following afterwards (even a still-disgusted Nora raised her glass just for the sake of it) before the two began – reluctantly – digging into their bowls of stews.

"If I may say," Codsworth announced, once Nate and Nora finished their third – and final (much to the two's relief) - bowl. "The former settlers built a few beds inside the house along with sleeping bags, although they can only allow 15 people to sleep on."

"I'll take the first watch then," Preston offered, standing up. "I'm still good for the next few hours."

"You sure? You could use some rest, Preston." Nora asked skeptically. When Preston reassured her, she sighed. "Alright…but take Codsworth with you. He can show you the places that need to be patched up."

"Proud to serve mum!" the Mr. Handy said proudly, saluting.

Turning to the Minutemen Engineer, she asked "Sturges, are the turrets up?"

The engineer nodded. "I already inputted some coding to the turrets to distinguish friend and foe, thanks to a computer near them."

"I'll take the second watch." Bluejay offered before pointing at Duke. "He'll take third."

As Duke stood up to argue (since he didn't want to take watch), the rest entered the cul-de-sac for a much needed rest. The previous settlers had decided to remove the walls inside to create more space, effectively creating a make-shift dorm while repairing the outside ones to give privacy. "Now that the powers up and running, I think its best we build something more habitable." Nora suggested as the two took the bed near the window.

Looking around, Nate agreed to her suggestion. "Let's get some sleep first," Nate ordered before plopping down on the bed. "Damn…it ain't comfy though."

Nora just chuckled as she curled up beside her husband. "Tough first day, huh?"

"You bet," Nate answered before staring at the ceiling, lost with his thoughts. "Nora…what do you think—"

"Don't you dare finish that!" Nora whispered angrily at him. "No use imagining what we _would_ have happened. Remember what Benji told us in our wedding?"

"'Focus on the present, because through that, we can change the future.'" he quoted before turning to Nora. "Thanks honey."

"Now, get some sleep." she ordered as she snuggled close to her husband. "We have a big day tomorrow."

 **# # # # # # # # # #**

"So…" Sturges drawled out, grinning at the two Vault 111 sole survivors of as they ate their breakfast. "You two still not tasting anything?"

The sun was steadily rising in the east, signaling it was morning as the early birds (Nate, Nora, Sturges, and Zeke) were eating breakfast prepared by Codsworth (Grilled Radroach Meat). "If you want the texture, I can tell you." Nate muttered sarcastically, earning a chuckle from Zeke.

"So, what's the order of business today, General?" Sturges jokingly asked Nora, who gave him a look.

"I haven't agreed to the 'General', Sturges," informed Nora. "But if we're going to improve this settlement, we got to have some farming land ready."

"That's wonderful!" Codsworth exclaimed happily, adding another of the fried meat on Zeke's plate. "Mr. Donald built a fenced area near the roundabout to serve as a farm for this settlement, although they weren't able to plant the seeds."

"Well, once everyone's awake, we can start doing just that." Zeke chimed in, stabbing his food with a fork. "The Warwicks will probably want to show you guys how to do it, having been farmers and all."

Nate nodded. "Well, Nora and I could probably learn a thing or two from them." he conceded before pointing to the unfinished walls of Sanctuary. "Afterwards, we build some walls to cover the opened spots."

"We could but we may not have any materials." Nora said, disagreeing with him. "We could cop down some trees but it'll take too long to make wooden planks to use."

"That may not be a problem, mum." Codsworth argued just as Roger and Preston entered the makeshift dining room. "In one of the root cellars here, most of the materials brought by Mr. Arthur's group can be found there."

"Thanks for the info, Codsworth." Nora replied before turning to the newly arrived. "Morning, had a nice sleep?"

"Nothing like the old Warwick Homestead…but it'll do." Roger grunted before taking a seat besides Zeke. "Grilled Radroach?"

Zeke nodded before giving him a plate. "Good enough to make your wife's cooking a run of her money."

Roger just cocked an eyebrow before taking a bit. "Well, I'll be damned…" the farmer piped, eyes wide open. "You are right!"

"Right about what?" June asked as she walked out of the house's doors. "Morning you all!"

The couple raised their hands to her while Sturges gave her a curt nod. "Looks like this Mr. Handy is gonna beat you in cooking!" her husband quipped, slowly munching the meal.

Eyebrows raised, June grab and fork and took a bite before gapping. "Damn…you are right!" June exclaimed, much to everyone's amusement.

"Damn…now I wish I could taste this." Nora muttered, now staring at her meal gloomily.

Nate just patted her in the back. "Don't worry, we'll get our taste buds back." he said, comforting her.

"Anyway," Preston addressed, getting everyone's attention. "What do we have lined up today?"

"Plant some crops and get some materials to build some walls." Nate announced, finishing his meal. "Afterwards, we can set up who gets the guard post duties for tonight."

"Good idea," Zeke told them, giving his plate back to Codsworth, who had taken the role as the cleaner and cook of the newly made settlement. "Duke told me he wants nothing to do with nightshift duty, something about wanting to sleep at night and guard during the day time."

"Duly noted!" Nora replied before sheepishly asking June and Roger "So…uh, how do people farm nowadays?"

"Same as they did back then: just find a small area to plant on, build a fence around it, and then plant the seeds." June responded, taking a bite from her meal. "Find me a farming area and I'll teach you guys how to do it. Just let me finish my breakfast first."

"Sure, we got all day anyway." Nate replied jokingly, earning a light slap from his wife. "What, you know it's true!"

After a few minutes (with everyone finally up and eating), June finished her breakfast and brought the Adams couple near a makeshift barn (one of the houses) to get materials. The Warwick cow (a Brahmin, according to Preston when Nate asked last night) had wander in the house and decided to sleep in it, a makeshift door placed by Roger to prevent it from wandering off.

"This here is ole Daisy – and no, she doesn't produce milk anymore." June introduced, patting the cow on the head before opening one of its the bags. "The only reason I'm showing you her is because she holding what we'll be planting for the farm."

Getting what she wanted, June showed then a fruit that suspiciously looked like a deformed grape with yellow leaves. "This here is a mutfruit. It's sweet and all but it gives you rad." she explained casually, giving them one to hold. "Mostly grows in vines and kinda looks like those old pre-war fruits called berry, I think."

Nora gave it back to her before being handed with a carrot. "Surprisingly," June stated as she placed the mutfruit back in the bag. "These pre-war vegetable is still alive and kicking – along with corns and melons, that is."

"Now, don't confuse this with a tomato, 'cause it ain't." June warned when she gave them a tomato-like plant. "It's a tato. On the outside, it looks like a tomato but if you open them, you get the texture of a potato. Also, potatoes aren't really extinct cause from what I heard, they still sell some potatoes in the west coast – wherever that is."

June then brought out a small bag from the cow's load. "Now, if you'll follow me, I'll show you how to plant these babies."

As they walked towards Sanctuary's farm, Nora asked "So, are these the only ones we can eat in the wasteland?"

June shook her head. "There are a lot more out there, honey." she lectured, waggling her finger. "For example, we have the tarberries that only grow on top of water, like those lilies in a pre-war book. Very they're hard to find, mind you. The only place you can find them is in the Slog, a Ghoul settlement down south."

"Ghouls?" Nate asked, confusing them with the zombies. "What are ghouls?"

June just laughed. "I forgot you guys just woke up yesterday!" she answered with a smile. "Let me put it this way: imagine a person whose entire body is wrinkled and can live up for forever – that, my dear friends, is a ghoul. They were exposed to the rads during the early days of the fallout and slowly mutated, becoming what they are today."

"Wait, ghouls are irradiated people?" Nora exclaimed in horror.

June nodded solemnly. "Poor people too," she mused as they passed the Central House. "Most humans – especially in Diamond City – call them freaks of nature and have been segregated by most us."

"They're segregated?" Nate repeated, eyes furrowing in confusion.

"You can't help it, really." she said, shrugging. "You see, there are two kinds of Ghouls: feral and civilized. Feral Ghouls are mindless ones who just do what they need to do: eat, sleep, repeat. On the other hand, Civilized Ghouls are basically like us humans – only difference is their physical appearance, genetic make-up, and immortality. Most of them – if not all – were born prior to the Great War, making them almost 300 years old. Majority, however, believe that Ghouls will eventually become feral any moment and cast them off."

Nate and Nora stopped and stared at her. "Wait, Ghouls are immortal?" Nora asked.

June nodded. "Yup, most of them will be people from your time only disfigured. You'll know one when you see one, trust me." she replied as the reached their destination. "Now, let me show you how to farm here in the wasteland."

As lunch time came (along with lots of dirt on their clothes), Nate and Nora finally knew the basics of Wasteland farming. Apparently, cultivated plants will not give rads when eaten but only wild versions will. Also, they learned about a few more creatures in the wasteland: Yao guai, a very large bear-like animal; mirelurk, an irradiated and enlarged crab creature that lives in bodies of waters; radscorpion, another irradiated bug the size of a car; bloatfly, another mutated insect similar to a radroach; mole rat, a creature they encountered in the Red Rocket station; mongrel, a mutated dog that looked like it was starving; bloodbug, a mutated mosquito half the size of a person and (according to June) "one damn bug high on sugar bombs"; and stingwing, a mutated dragonfly-like creature with "a shooting tail".

"What's that smell?" Nate asked as they neared the central house, sniffing the air. "Is…is that grilled meat?"

June howled with laughter. "Yup, kiddo, that's grilled alright!" she replied as they near the house, they saw Zeke, Duke, Sturges, Preston, and Roger sitting around a newly constructed long table with chairs they got from other houses. "Who made the dining table?"

Duke and Sturges both raised their hands. "We did!" both said in unison before the Minutemen's engineer added "We found it annoying to sit on the floor. Don't worry, we only used about three wooden planks to make these."

"And the chairs were from the houses," Duke continued. "Thought it was collecting dusk in them if nobody actually sat on them."

Nate sat on one of the couches offered along with Nora. "You know," Nora began as she snuggled close to Nate while waiting for the food to arrive. "It's actually nice. Thanks you two!"

"No problemo, General." Sturges replied jokingly with a mock salute, getting an eye role from Nora and a laugh from Nate.

"'General Nora Adams of the Commonwealth Minutemen'…" Nate then said out loud, getting looks from everyone around them. "Sound catchy, Nora. I like it!"

Nora just groaned before lightly slapping her husband on the chest. "Nate! We haven't talked about it yet! Besides, does 'General Nate' sounds nice?"

"I get why you're having second thoughts for it, Nora." Nate said, trying to calm her. "But how hard could it be!"

"This isn't like commanding a squad, Nate!" she persisted. "Look at what happened to General Chase after the war! You and I were there when it happened."

Instead of answering her, Nate turned to Preston and asked "What are the duties of a Minutemen General, Preston?"

Although quite taken aback by the question, Preston quickly answered "The General is to command all the Minutemen, issue out patrols, check upon the defenses of its allied settlements, and ensure the moral of the army is up."

"No bureaucratic red tape bullshit, right?" Nate inquired, getting a confused look from everyone. "I mean, no need to sign papers, talk to the press, write reports, and all those boring office works?" he quickly amended.

Preston shook his head. "No need for that. The Minutemen General may do those but it's up to them if they want it. Personally, a Minutemen General is the one always fighting with their troops."

Nate nodded understandingly. "See? A Minutemen General is the warrior kind, the ones always near the front lines and fighting with the soldiers!" he pointed out happily. "You did just that when we met up with Preston, remember that?"

Nora bit her lips before it slowly became a sly smile. "Oh no, I know that smile!" Nate shouted, now feeling afraid. Nora only gave those sly smiles whenever she was thinking of doing something _very_ mischievous. "Under no—"

"I hereby promote you, Nate Adams, to the rank of Colonel." Nora said in her best imitation of General Chase's voice. "You are now the second highest ranking commander of the Minutemen Army."

Nate just groaned and face palmed. Everyone, on the other hand, just stared dumbly at the couple, still not comprehending what happened. "What," Nora smugly asked to them. "Never seen a promotion before?"

"But…but to promote someone, you have to hold rank first." Sturges exclaimed, arms raised up.

"Well…" Nate drawled, staring at him. Seriously, how could not anyone see Nora just basically accepted Preston's request. "She _is_ a general, is she not?"

Preston finally understood what was happening. "So…are…are you accepting…the rank?" he slowly asked, afraid this was just all a dream.

Nora just gave him a deadpanned look. "No, I just promoted my husband to colonel because I felt it was cool." she sarcastically remarked. "Yes Preston, I am accepting the rank of General for the Commonwealth Minutemen…unless you don't want me to?"

"NO! I mean yes! I mean-argh!" Preston exclaimed loudly, getting a laugh from everyone and breaking the tension present. "What I mean is…yes, I want you to be the new General of the Minutemen."

"Wait, what about the other Minutemen?" Duke then asked. "Won't they object?"

To everyone's surprised, Preston just laughed. "The only good thing about being the last Minutemen is nobody can object about my decision to make a new her General of the Minutemen."

"Well then, I do believe this calls for a celebration?" Zeke began as he brought out a bottle of whiskey, grinning. "Anyone up for one?"

Nate and Nora both declined (after having some bad blood about alcohols) while Preston just grabbed bottle, opened it, and drank it. "Damn…" Nate muttered as the Minuteman finished the bottle under ten seconds.

"I needed that," he said groggily as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve, earning a laugh from everyone. "Today is now classified as one of my best days ever."

"What was the first then?" Zeke asked, getting the bottle back with a smile on his face.

"My birthday." he replied, smirking just as Codsworth brought two plates full of grilled meat.

"Lunch is served!" Codsworth proudly stated as he gently set the plate full of food in the table's center. "Would any of you care for some purified water?"

 **# # # # # # # # # #**

"That…that was a fulfilling lunch." Nora stated as they finished eating. "I can even already taste some the meat."

"What was the taste then?" Roger asked as everyone was finishing theirs.

"Tasted like burnt barbeque." Nate bluntly stated as he drank some purified water, "better than nothing, I guess."

"What's a 'barbeque'?" Jun Long asked. He was one of the survivors of the Quincy Massacre and was rescue by Preston's group along with his wife, Marcy. The man had thanked them before the Adams went for their farming lessons, telling the two he was grateful for their timely arrive.

"It's like a squirrel on a stick," answered Codsworth as he picked up the plates. "Only made with any other meat out here."

"'Squirrel on a stick'?" Nora asked incredulously. "Squirrels are still alive and not mutated?"

Everyone just shrugged. "Yeah, though no one has seen one alive and running. We just find chunks of it lying about or if we're lucky, a one dead on a stick already." Sturges noted as he handed his plate to Codsworth. "It's the sea creatures we're not sure off. Nobody wants to dive in the water because of the rads in it."

Nate whistled, understanding the predicate. "Well, who wouldn't?"

"True that," Sturges said, nodding in agreement before looking outside. "Anyway, I was thinking we should build more walls if we're going to stay here permanently. Sanctuary's borders could use some more of them."

Nora looked outside and saw it was cloudy, a perfect time to build. "Alright, I'll help out with the construction. My dad taught me a lot of carpentry so I can help with that. Anything else?"

"We could mod our weapons." Rowdy suggested, gesturing to another workbench in the Central House garage. "Weapons nowadays can be modified to your taste. For example, a pipe pistol – when added a stock, longer barrel, and a scope – can become a sniper rifle."

Nate grinned as he pumped his fist. "Alright!" he happily exclaimed. "That's something I wanna do."

"I'll be bringing up the required materials after I wash the dishes, mum, sir." Codsworth offered, cleaning them while they were talking. "Would anyone care to help me?"

"I'll do that." Johnny D. offered as he stood up, stretching. "I'll help with the construction as well."

"Well, me and Zeke here will go about and check that Red Rocket down the road." Duke said. "We might need to scavenge some materials to build and mod."

"Go to Concord and see if the bodies are still there. If they are, scavenge them will you?" Preston ordered, as he placed on his coat before turning to Jun. "I'll take Jun with me for the first watch, along with Bluejay. I made a promise to teach Jun here how to fire some weapons."

"Scavenging the people you killed is one of the rules here in the Wasteland, Mrs. Nora." Roxy explained as Nora was about to protest. "It's the survival of the strongest out here, ma'am."

"So…if I ever kill anyone out in the waste, I have to take their belongings?" Nate asked, feeling queasy about stealing from the dead.

"Only if they things of value," Roxy pointed out. "For example, if the guy has .308 rounds, 5 caps, and a compensated pipe rifle with a bayonet, you take it."

"But if the guy you killed has only a silver spoon, a teddy bear, an empty whisky bottle, and a bottle of jet, you leave it for others…unless you need the bottle and when you're a jet addict." Rowdy continued.

The couple nodded, slightly understanding the circumstance. "Alright, but that doesn't I like it." Nora mumbled.

Mama Murphy, who was silent throughout lunch, laughed. "Of course dear," she said in a sage-like manner. "Sometimes, your opinions won't matter to all but at the right moment, it will.

Nora smiled as she stood up. "Thanks Mama Murphy." She replied before looking at Codsworth. "Alright Codsworth, show us the construction supplies."

Everyone started standing up and went to work. Marcy went with the Warwicks to help farm while Rowdy, Roxy and Nate went to what Rowdy called 'Weapons Bench'. "Alright Vaulty, here's the rundown of what weapons you can mod with what materials." Rowdy exclaimed as she patted the work bench.

Nate stared at the Atom Cat member. "'Vaulty'?"

Rowdy just shrugged while Roxy giggled. "Why not?" Rowdy asked nonchalantly as she sorted the materials. "You come from a vault, remember?"

Nate was about to retort but decided against it. "Just show me how to modify the weapons." he said, sighing.

"Well then, here's lesson one for you." Rowdy said, motioning to the pipe rifle she placed on the work bench. "If you're going to mod something, you got to know what part you wanna mod."

Picking up the rifle, she pointed to the stock. "For example, you wanna replace this standard stock with a full stock version for better accuracy, recoil, and melee." Rowdy told him before pointing to the barrel. "Or maybe you want to improve the barrel for to lessen the weight."

She then place the weapon down and retrieved a basket full of parts: wonderglues, screws, bits of steel, etc. "Next thing you need to note is the materials needed to construct the mod." Rowdy told him as she sorted out the baskets. "Right now, we only have enough to create a short light barrel and a short scope. However, if you scrap scavenged materials like metal trays, toy cars, or a damaged board you get from random areas of dead bodies, you can create more."

Nate nodded understandingly. "First, I have to know what part to modify and then check if I have the materials needed to use." he summarized before looking at the Atom Cat. "What's the third step?

Rowdy smiled. "Looks like we got a quick learner here Roxy," she told her fellow Atom Cat, getting a giggle. "The third and final step involves making it. Roxy here will show you how to do it. Oh, and one more thing: these stuff are called mods, nothing else – got it?"

Nate nodded before watching Roxy explain to him how to make the mod. He took the information in as quick as a sponge, having been familiar with the stuff she was doing – he didn't graduate college with a degree in Mechanical Engineering for nothing. When Roxy asked him to do it, Nate did as she instructed, not missing any detail and making it quick without any mistake. "Damn…" Roxy said, whistling as she examined out the modded pipe rifle. "And here I was thinking you'll have three tries before you get one right."

"Yeah well…I graduated with an engineering degree before the bombs fell, so this is just a review." Nate honestly replied, trying to downplay the bragging.

Rowdy picked it up and checked the gun. "Well, you wanna try it out?"

Nate nodded, hiding his excitement, and the three headed out to an open area to check it out. Nora, who was having a conversation with Johnny and Sturges, saw the three leave the Central House. Johnny, who saw them leave as well, smirked at Nora's look and said "No need getting jealous, ma'am. Roxy and Rowdy both root for the other team."

"I—what?" Nora asked, clearly confused at what Johnny was talking about.

"Rowdy and Roxy are in a relationship, so need to fret about either of the two trying to steal your husband." Johnny clarified nonchalantly as he hammered a nail on the wall he was building.

"Those two…those two are in a relationship?" Nora slowly asked, not comprehending what he was talking about. "Wait, you mean their lesbians?"

"Lesbians?" Sturges repeated, looking at Nora. "Well, if that's what you pre-war people call two women in a relationship, then yes, they're lesbians."

"And…nobody's complaining?" Nora asked, frowning as she looked at Johnny.

"Nope," the Atom Cat replied quickly. "Well…unless you call Duke's anger now he can't shag Roxy a complain, then no."

"Oh…" Nora trailed off, unsure how to react to the information. "It's just…before the bombs fell, majority of society was divided on the matter. One side called it a sin or a disgrace…while the other side said society must respect who they love. Nate and I…since both of us had a friend in a same sex relationship, we supported the other side."

"Really?" Johnny asked incredulously. "Damn…well, at least nobody cares nowadays."

"True," Sturges agreed as he began placing the wall on the border. "Anyway, back to our original conversation, you said you were a lawyer?"

Nora nodded as she continued to saw the wood for the wall. "Yup. Lawyers are people who defend your rights when you're being tried for a crime here." She happily explained, wiping sweat from her brow. "I was about to begin my practice when the Sino-American war broke out. Army conscripted me to join and commissioned me as a captain for the 101st Airborne Division."

Nora just chuckled. "Getting commission as a captain was the least of my worries. Did you know I was forced to make an after action report every time my squad comes back after a fight." she complained half-angrily as she sat on the ground. "I have to write every detail of what happened during any fight with the Chinese!"

Her two companions just laughed at her. "Don't worry, General." Sturges reassured, smiling at the newly minted Minutemen General. "No need to do such stuff. I bet no one wants to do those either after all."

"True!" Johnny agreed as he stood up. "Hell, most papers we have are useless nowadays. Most of those are just found in Vault 81 or Diamond City."

"Vault 81?" Nora asked suddenly, interest peaking at the mention of a vault. "There's another Vault out there?"

Sturges nodded just as Johnny began to place his wall over its designated section. "Yeah, near the Chestnut Hillock Reservoir." he pointed out before he saw Nora alarmed expression. "Don't worry, the Vault ain't an experiment. The people there may be isolationist but they have a good heart and trade purified water for goods."

Nora sighed in relief. "Good to know," she said. "Are there any other Vault here?"

Both Johnny and Sturges shook their heads. "None that we know of. From what I know, people only know about Vault 81." Johnny said, finally finishing his wall. "Anything else to build?"

Nate had finished testing the weapon (getting good results out of it) when he saw Nora with Sturges and Johnny. "Don't worry about Johnny snagging Nora," Roxy reassured the Colonel of the Minutemen she saw him looking over to them. "We Atom Cats have an honor code we live by, so don't worry about it."

Nate was about to protest but Rowdy shushed him. "We know that look, Nate." she said before giving her girlfriend a quick kiss. "Both of us give that look whenever we see each other with someone's company."

Nate, who had discovered about Roxy and Rowdy's relationship earlier on, gagged at their public display of affection. "Don't do that in front of me, will you." he jokingly muttered. "It's disgusting."

The two just laughed. "You flirt with your wife all the time!" Roxy countered at him, smirking. "I bet you guys would kiss if you don't have restraint with you."

"Ha, ha, ha." Nate said in a deadpanned voice. "Come on, let's go see if we could help with the others."

Meanwhile, nobody noticed Mama Murphy contently sitting on one of the chairs she took from the Central House, happily humming to herself as she watched as everyone minded their business, going about to improve Sanctuary to be more habitable for everyone from the cliffs overlooking the settlement. _The winds of change have arrived at the Commonwealth…and the Sole Survivors of Vault 111 are its deliverers._ Mama Murphy thought to herself as she saw Nate and Nora playfully annoying each other. _Though for the better or for the worse…it remains to be seen._

 **# # # # # # # # # #**

As the days went by, everyone living in Sanctuary pitched in to help improve its facilities. Sturges, being the more knowledgeable engineer between him and Nate on the techs of the wasteland, directed most of the work. Nate helped him out when it came to building machineries for the settlement, ranging from generators, turrets, purifiers, a radio (to recruit more settlers and Minutemen), and a terminal (to improve the accuracy of the turrets). Nora, the unofficial leader of the settlement, managed the construction of most buildings (with the Longs and Mama Murphy helping scavenge and sort the materials from the destroyed houses of the original Sanctuary).

"You do realize," Nora began, arms on her hips as she started at the newly constructed storage house of the settlement. It was placed in front of the Central House to allow everyone easy access to it, since it was an armory for weapons, a cellar for food, and a room to keep materials. "It's been a month since we woke up Nate."

Said person was standing in front of her looked stunned. "Oh really?" he replied in surprised. "Damn…it felt like it has been days only, honey!"

Nora just laughed as Preston went to them. "General, Colonel," the newest Major of the reorganized Minutemen greeted to them. A week ago, Nora had asked about the rank structure of the Minutemen but upon Preston reply, she groaned in despair. Apparently, the only people with ranks in the Minutemen were the individual Minutemen squad leaders and the General himself, leaving the majority of the Minutemen to have no ranks at all.

With her new rank, however, Nora made it clear how things will be run under her. First off, with Nate's help, she organized the Minutemen rankings according to the US Army rank structure: Privates, Corporals, Sergeants, Captains, Lieutenants, Majors, a Colonel, and a General.

The lowest, of course, were the Privates and Corporals as they will be the main back bone of the Minutemen (or as Nate called them, grunts). Next were the Sergeants and Captains, who will command the three-man and five-man Minutemen patrols respectively. These two ranks' main duty is to lead the Minutemen squads on daily patrols to ensure that the people know the Minutemen were always ready to help.

Four Lieutenants, two Majors, a Colonel, and a General will then make up for the High Command of the Minutemen. Nate had suggested that they divide the Commonwealth into four sectors (numbering from one to four) that will be handled by a Lieutenant. Then, two Majors will then handle the Northern and Southern Command of the Minutemen. Sectors One and Three will belong to the Northern Command (based in Sanctuary) while Sectors Two and Four reports to Southern Command (based in The Castle). Finally, the Colonel and the General will then be the overall leaders of the Minutemen Army.

This way, there won't be a power vacuum when the Minutemen General dies or lose a headquarters immediately – a problem the old Minutemen faced when General Arthur McGann, Nora's predecessor, died at the loss of the Castle, the only Headquarters of the Minutemen. The new Minutemen Army, under Nora, will now be based in its Northern Command Center, Sanctuary (also the designated boot camp for future Minutemen), until a Southern Command could be established from The Castle (once it had been recapture on a prior date).

However, it was easier said than done. Right now, the only base the Minutemen had was in Sanctuary and it only had five Minutemen (Jun being their latest recruit) that can respond to the calls for help. Then again, the Minutemen could be given some slack – after all, they were still rebuilding and recuperating from all the defeats they've suffered in the past.

"What is it, Major?" Nora asked, smiling as Preston stopped before them. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Preston frowned before saluting quite sloppily. "Sorry General," he apologized, still saluting. "I need to get used to the changes."

"At ease Major Garvey," Nate ordered before explaining to the flustered Major how to execute a proper salute, grinning as he did.

"I'll remember that, Colonel." he promised before turning to Nora. "Private Jun reports that a group of potential settlers are making their way here, General. Apparently, their old settlement in Gorski Cabin was attacked by Raiders." Preston reported as he fidgeted his shouldered deactivated Laser Musket. "After hearing about Sanctuary, they decided to make their way here for a much safer place to stay."

Nora nodded and was about to ask about Jun's training (God knows the man needed a lot of help to come out of his shell) when bells started ringing. "That's near the watch tower." she said, frowning. Without a word, all three of them immediately ran for the bridge, the only place with a bell.

"Give me a sitrep, Bluejay." Nate asked upon the trio's arrival to the bridge. A week after their arrival, Sturges had directed more focus in building turrets and traps for the only bridge leading to Sanctuary. One week later, the bridge was now defended by two Heavy Machine-gun turrets place on an elevated platform with a Guard Tower in between them – the one Bluejay was currently manning.

"Flare went up over the ridge." Bluejay curtly replied, pointing his compensated Laser Rifle towards its direction. "Looks like Duke and Zeke met some opposition."

"Alright…Nate, come with me. We'll check it out." Nora announced. "Preston, you and the others keep watch."

Since it had been decided earlier that everyone should keep their weapons on them all the time, Nate just heft his compensated pipe rifle as both he and his wife immediately ran towards the flare's last position – which happened to be near the Red Rocket Station. Nora, who was carrying a scoped silenced pipe rifle, looked through it and cursed. "Five raiders in a pincher movement." Nora said quietly as the two took cover near some destroyed vehicles. "Two in front of them with three behind."

"Take out the two and I'll go in and give suppressing fire." Nate said, looking at the group attacked by the raiders. From the looks of it, Duke and Zeke met up with the potential settlers and decided to help them reach Sanctuary. "That'll give them a break from all the fighting."

Nora nodded and lined up her shot. Thanks to her modded pipe rifle, she can now snipe her enemies from a far. Lining her scope to the head of the raider, she fired and blew up the unsuspecting raider's head, bursting in a firework-like explosion. The one beside him never got a chance to turn as Nora fired again, killing him as well.

Duke, who was firing at the ones Nora killed with his assault rifle, was stunned until he saw Nate running towards them, compensated pipe rifle blazing at the enemies, forcing the last three raiders to duck. Upon reaching them, Nate ducked behind the wrecked car Zeke was using for cover. "Took you guys long enough." Zeke grunted through T-60 speakers, taking a peek from it.

Nate just chuckled as began firing at the Raiders, forcing them to duck again. "Yeah well…we took the scenic route to get here." he joked just as the two of them saw one of the raiders head blow up. "Come on, let's kill these bastards."

Zeke smirked as Nate immediately jumped out of cover and started raining fire on the last two raiders. Thanks to some scavenged metal armor from the Concord Raiders, Nate was now wearing metal chest piece armor with metal arm guards, making close up encounters much safer for him. One raider, however, had a combat shotgun (quite dangerous for anyone doing close quarter combat) with him and was preparing to fire at the Colonel.

Nora, seeing the shotgun, immediately lined up her scope and fired, knocking the gun out of his hands. Before the raider could react, Zeke took aim and fired, spraying the raider's chest with .45 rounds with his unmodded assault rifle. The last raider (female from the looks of it) became enraged that she injected something into her to become crazier than usual, firing at anything moving. Unluckily, Nate got nicked on the legs by stray bullets as he dove for cover along with everyone else.

Nora, who was having a hard lining up the shot, managed to get a lucky opening when the raider stopped to reload. Quick as lightning, she aimed and fire, blowing up the raider's head just as she was about to continue her crazed actions. Replacing her magazine, she quickly walked up to the small group just as Nate limped back to them. "What the hell was that?" she asked, tossing a stimpack wrapped in bandages to Nate.

"Either Psycho or Overdrive." Duke said as he reloaded his assault rifle. "Kinda like an adrenaline booster, makes you feel invincible and all."

Nora said nothing as she assessed the group they rescued. There were four adults (two females and two males) with two children (two girls around 12 years old). Two adults (a male Ghoul and female human) were wearing drifter outfits, the Ghoul holding a combat shotgun with a backpack and the woman carrying a huge backpack about half her size. The other woman, on the other hand, was wearing brown armored robes and a small sack on her back, looking around with suspicion, keeping that weird-looking contraption on her hand close to her chest and poised to attack at the slightest provocation.

The last man, wearing hooded green shirt, patched leather pants with pouches on his belt, approached them. "I thank you for rescuing us…" he trailed off, looking at Nora and Nate.

"Colonel Nate Adams of the Commonwealth Minutemen." Nate introduced himself, offering his hand. "And this is my wife, General Nora Adams."

The man shook it with gratitude. "Thank you then, Colonel, General. I am Victor Reznov, leader of this group of travelers." he said as introducing himself, a grateful smile on his face. "I believe you four come from Sanctuary?"

"Hell yeah, man!" Zeke exclaimed happily, his helmet off. "You guys got the message, I guess?"

Victor nodded. "Yes…although, I would like to ask if any of you have anything against a Ghoul?" he asked suspiciously.

"If we have, then we would have stated in our radio broadcast the 'No Ghouls Allowed' line." Nora pointed out, smirking. "Besides, our duty as Minutemen is to protect the Commonwealth's people at the minute's notice – keyword being _Commonwealth's people_."

Victor felt relieved. "Very well then, let me introduced to you my fellow travelers." he said, motioning to the others to come near.

Pointing to the Ghoul, Victor said "This here is Old Man Logan. He's our protection detail and resident cook." Said Ghoul just gave them a once over before tilting his head in greeting. "Beside him is Trader Natalie. She sells mostly food, clothes, some stimpacks and ammo, and an occasional chem."

Natalie waved at them merrily as two children peeked behind her. "These two are Jessie and Mia, orphaned twins Natalie and I take care off." Victor said, crouching down and ruffling one of the twin's hairs. "And this is Veronica."

"Veronica Santangelo." the said woman briskly expanded, eyeing the four saviors with suspicion. "I am hail from the west coast, near New Vegas."

"New Vegas…as in Las Vegas?" Nate asked incredulously, getting a surprised nod from Veronica. "Damn…will you look at that, Nora! The Gambling Capital of America survived without a scratch!"

Nora just laughed. "No Nate, we are not going on a cross country trip just for you to gamble." she jokingly replied, giving him a smirk.

"Anyway, how in the world did Vegas survive?" Nate then asked Veronica. "I know for once the Nellis Air Force Base was there along with Hoover Dam, giving whoever launched the nukes first a good military target."

Everyone – including Veronica – seemed confused about what Nate was asking. "How…how did you know about Nellies and Hoover Dam?" she asked, clearly surprised by Nate's knowledge of pre-War Vegas.

Nora immediately changed the subject, knowing it will take a while for them to explain how. "Can we please go now?" Nora asked, looking about as if they were about to be ambushed. "Nate and I will answer your question privately once we're back in Sanctuary."

Grudgingly, Veronica accepted and, with the rest of the group, began to move towards Sanctuary. "What's her problem?" Nora asked Victor, who had decided to walk near her while Nate took point once again.

"I myself do not know." he confessed, sighing. "She just stumbled into our camp, badly wounded and delirious from being dehydrated for God knows how long. When we were patching her up, she kept mumbling the words 'pock-lips', 'flowers', and 'Mojave'. Upon waking up, didn't seem to know where she was and kept asking where her companions were."

Nora looked at Veronica, who really seemed distant with everyone around her. "Did she tell you anything about her?" she asked.

Victor nodded as they neared the Red Rocket Gas Station. "After she had calmed down, that is. She told us her name and said she was part of a group called 'Followers of the Apocalypse'." he said. "They're a group of people dedicated to helping the people of the wasteland, something like the 'Red Cross' or the like before the bombs. I call it bullshit."

"Why?" Nora asked, frowning. "It's a noble idea like the Minutemen."

"Yeah, but the problem is, nobody helps anyone without getting something in return." Victor countered as their group caught sight of the Minutemen Statue (Preston had named it as such seeing that Sanctuary was now officially the Minutemen HQ, the statue near its border should be called that). "I think that group's going to ask for food and money in return for helping them."

"Hey," Nora protested. "Before the bombs fell, the Red Cross was a worldwide organization whose main duties were to care for everyone in need. If this 'Followers' are something of the same, then they're good in my book."

"I still doubt them." Victor stated with finality. "However, one thing's for sure: what ever happened to her group, she was the only survivor."

"I agree." Nora said just as the stopped in front of the bridge leading to Sanctuary.

Nate spread his arms wide open in a gesturing manner, turning towards the group like some game show host. "Welcome to Sanctuary!" he exclaimed happily, a grin on his face. "The official Minutemen Headquarters and Settlement where you can safely live in!"

The group eventually made their way across the Sanctuary Bridge; avoiding the broken parts on it ("We have to patch this bridge later on, Nora." Nate stated to his wife as they passed it) and were greeted by Preston, Sturges, and Mama Murphy.

"General, Colonel." Preston greeted, correctly saluting this time.

"At ease, Major." Nora ordered after saluting back.

Preston relaxed and looked at the group. "These from Gorski?" he asked, getting a nod from Nate. "Good, they've arrived safe and sound."

"Anything else to report, Major?" Nora asked.

The major nodded. "We just got a report from a settlement in Tenpines Bluff." he said as the three of them walked towards Sanctuary Storage House. "They're having some trouble from raiders."

"Did they tell you where?" Nate asked, entering the armory section of the house.

Preston shook his head. "They asked if they could speak first with the Minutemen that'll be helping."

Although large, the Sanctuary Armory had a few weapons stored in them: namely pipe rifles, pipe pistols, a few melee weapons, five assault rifles, three 10mm pistols and two laser musket. It was quite understandable for it to have only a few weapons since the settlement only had a few people in them. Thanks to Nate's brilliance in modding weapons, however, all the weapons in it was good enough to deal more damage than necessary. Grabbing one of the deactivated Scoped Laser Musket, Nate threw it to Nora before grabbing some ammo for the two of them.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Nate said with a grin. "Let's show them that the Commonwealth Minutemen ain't dead yet!"

* * *

 **Biography:**

Nate Adams

-Rank: Sergeant (Alaskan Reclamation, 108th Infrantry Division); Colonel (Commonwealth Wasteland, Commonwealth Minutemen)

-Biography (Pre-Great War)

Born on April 11, 2040, Nate Adams was a strong and hardheaded boy. Having lived in a rough nieghborhood, he learned how to be tough and brave. After a stint as a Mechanical Engineer for Red Rocket for 3 years, he was unfortunately drafted by the army when the Sino-American War broke out. After boot camp, he was sent to Alaska along with the 108th Infranty Regiment to help in its reclamation, experiecing 10 years of hell and being one of the first pilots of the T-45d Power Armor. During the war, he married Nora Hasley, a Captain in the 101st Airborne Division and had a son named Shaun.

-Equipment and Abilities

Nate was your typical army grunt and can pilot Power Armors (having been one of its first). Likewise, he was very good in handling heavy weaponry and assult rifles (especially AER9). He was also good in hand-to-hand combat and can set traps, repair items and modify weaponry (evident with his Mech. Eng. degree). He was an able bodied man and was considered VERY lucky by his friends and family.

(S=4;P=3;E=4;C=3;I=3;A=4;L=3)

Nora Adams

-Rank: Captain (Alaskan Reclamation, 101st Airborne Division); General (Commonwealth Wasteland, Commonwealth Minutemen)

-Biography (Pre-Great War)

Nora Adams nee Hasley was born on January 11, 2041 to Jacob and Catherine Hasley. As a child, she grew up surrounded by a teacher and carpenter who ensured she was given the best education they had around them, resulting her becoming really smart. Living in a well-off neighborhood, she was very polite, kind, and helpful. She took Political Science in college and later got a degree in Law. As she began her practice, she was unfortunately commissioned as a captain in the 101st Airborne Division when the Sino-American War broke out. She served there with her squad (nicknamed Silent Hunters) for eight years before getting married to Nate Adams (a 108th T-45d pilot) and pregnant with Shaun, forcing her to get a medical discharge from the army.

-Equipment and Abilities

Because she was exposed to education at an early age, Nora was smart. She was also perceptive and had good eyesight since her father taught her carpentry as she grew up - a skill that would later help her in her time as a sniper for the 101st. Coupled that with having good charisma, Nora was well loved by all her friends, family, and the soldiers under her command who would always look up to her for leadership. She also had a knack for handling sniper rifles and pistols: the two most important weapon of any sniper. Many considered her one lucky girl because she always got out of any encounter either unhurt or victorious.

(S=3;P=4;E=3;C=4;I=4;A=3;L=3)

* * *

 _ **Awesome Notes & Notifications:**_

 _Hi there everyone, Pinoy Gamer is back in action!_

 _So, I've once again updated this story. Now, some of you readers might notice how I played the Settlement Construction. I made the whole thing look more realistic since it would probably take a month or so just to build some more fortification. Also, as you guys read last time, people had already tried to colonize Sanctuary thus explaining why there were already existing structures when Nate and Nora came out of Vault 111._

 _Now, regarding the Minutemen rank structure: as I explained via Nora, it was kind of stupid that the Minutemen in the game lacked something the Brotherhood of Steel had: an organized structure. Therefore, I added more depth by adding ranks, divisions, and HQs for the Minutemen here in this story. Besides, the Minutemen in Fallout 4 is awesome! They're the only Main Faction that doesn't need to kill another faction to progress down the game (Killing the Brotherhood is only an option, mind you). They have so much potential to be of use for everyone!_

 _(Once I buy the game - only need 1500 pesos more - I am so going follow the Minutemen Quests and I might even start videoing it once I start playing the game!)_

 _On other matters: yes, I added Veronica Santangelo of New Vegas fame here for a reason I will reveal later. However, yes, the Followers of the Apocalypse did travel to the East Coast to continue their 'Red Cross'-like mission. (If you understood my reference to the 'Flowers of Pock-Lips', then you guys are awesome!)._

* * *

 ** _Review Replies:_**

 **Xypher1:** Thanks for the review, my friend. Don't worry about CZ53 and CZ57, I've edited them already. As for your second point, lawyers are commissioned as Captains if they ever plan to join the army (along with doctors, nurses, or anyone with a medical degree). As for the SPECIAL, you start of with only 21 points - which is the reason why the SPECIALs in chapter one are set as such.

 **Second Guest who posted on 12/10/15:** Yes, Nora was a Lawyer. This chapter explains everything how she became a captain.

 **MattTheMarauder:** Thank you for that wonderful review. I did what you suggested and reread the other chapter and saw my mistakes. Don't worry, I edited it already.

 **UnknownHero:** Wow, really? Damn...I knew the 'Two Survivors instead of One' story was such a good idea but nobody seemed to want to do it. In reality, I was suppose to focus on 'The Terran Variable' story for the time being but I just couldn't let go if this idea. So here I am, writing about the adventures of Nate and Nora Adams as they cleanse the Commonwealth while trying to find Shaun.

* * *

 _ **Up Next:**_

 _ **Chapter 3: Taking Point**_


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